Mega-Deals Inflate Industry Merger Values

Overall M&A deal values in the asset management industry surged last year to $12.7 billion compared to $2.6 billion in 2013, according to a new report from PwC. However, much of the growth was largely driven by a few mega-deals, and the total number of deals remained flat, with 86 deals last year compared to 84 in 2013.

The three biggest deals in 2014 were TIAA-CREF's acquisition of Nuveen Investments for $6.5 billion, the London Stock Exchange's acquisition of Frank Russell for $2.7 billion and RCS Capital's acquisition of Cetera Financial Group for $1.2 billion.